High Performance Involves Taking Care of Yourself

It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. If you’re stressed out, you can’t do your best work.

Arianna Huffington talks about the importance of taking care of yourself in her six-part LinkedIn Learning course “Thrive”. My big takeaway was a confession that Huffington made at the beginning of the course. She talks about her own health struggles and says it shouldn’t take a crisis for us to focus on ourselves and what matters to us.

If you’re looking for a course that can offer you some things to think about when it comes to your own wellbeing, you might want to consider this one. As I mentioned, Thrive is available on LinkedIn Learning. It’s six short sessions and includes downloadable handouts. The course is available as part of a LinkedIn Learning subscription. LinkedIn won’t be happy with me saying this, but you can complete this course in the trial period before you get charged for it. Consider it research whether a LinkedIn Learning subscription is worth it.

In Thrive, Huffington talks about her personal successes and struggles during the course. She shares how she uses wellbeing tools in her workday. In addition, she brings in different individuals – people you will recognize like NBA legend Kobe Bryant, Warby Parker Founder Dave Gilboa, Happiness Expert Shawn Achor, and Wharton Professor Adam Grant – to show how the Thrive principles work for everyone.

I don’t want to give the contents of the program away, but there were five activities during the course that I found particularly interesting relative to high performance.

Listening to several different guided meditations, including how to breathe properly.

Creating your own digital detox.

Tracking your sleep and movement progress using downloadable trackers. Huffington makes a point that tracking by hand could prove to be more valuable that electronically.

Setting priorities. I’m not sure she did it intentionally, but when Huffington shared her priorities, she had one for herself, one for the important people in her life, and one for her work.

Letting go of things that don’t align with your priorities because you want to be nice. That includes people who are toxic in your life.

Personally, I could see this being a course that someone listens to right before the New Year OR when you feel you need to get on track again OR right before a big decision to get yourself grounded. Which is why I’m sharing my thoughts about the program. Every once in a while, we want or need a reset button. And I could see this being an option.

If we want high performance, we have to take care of ourselves. If organizations want high performance, they need to create the opportunities for employees to take care of themselves.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the SHRM Annual Conference in Washington, DC

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Hi! I'm Sharlyn Lauby, an HR pro turned consultant. I created the HR Bartender blog so people would have a friendly place to discuss workplace issues. And since, over the years, I've developed an appreciation for the culinary arts (translation: I'm a foodie) you'll see some of that here, too. So pull up a stool and order your favorite drink... the bar is always open.